With the Green Bay Symphony (she subs in for them sometimes).

Barb, I noticed some things had changed with the band. Maybe it was last year, I noticed that after half time there wasn't the section of drummers and others (can't remember exactly) going over to the student games.

Then at the Wake Game there was alarger group but they didn't go over to the student corner.

And I thought the tradition of the tuba players, etc playing right before the game, right by the stands when the band was going back up to the stands had stopped but maybe I just didn't see it last season because they did do that last home game.

Traditions are important in anything. I mean people still talk about when balloons were left off when the spear would go down.

The one thing I really miss is Chief Osceola getting off the horse , at the Seminole head, and working up the crowd before stabbing the spear down. It doesn't happen at all it almost seems that in the importance of tv and all the other stuff that's been forgotten. But the fans talk about it and miss it.

Well, it's been a pretty big erosion and this is considering that I think the current guy has been there for close to fifteen years now-- but there are two main things to keep in mind where he's concerned 1) until he came along, the directors had either been involved in the Marching Chiefs since its inception, had been former Chiefs themselves (like Shellahamer, who'd been my director), or had a healthy respect for the traditions and 2) the current guy has got an ego the size of Sarah Palin's bouffant.

He made it clear he didn't give a rat's ass for traditions-- he was going to put his own imprint on the band, and anyone who objected could just leave. Then, when he wound up with rebellions, his way of dealing was to tighten the disciplinary screws further. What he seems to have forgotten is that band is a completely voluntary activity. We'd practice/perform ten-fifteen hours a day during Gunkie Week prior to the semester starting, then practice/perform fifteen-twenty hours a week during the semester, all for one credit. When I was in, there were 450 members, only about 20% of whom were music majors. We did Chiefs because we loved band, we loved playing and performing, we loved the traditions, we loved being together. I haven't had that sense from them in a long, long time and it's really sad.

The other thing he made exceedingly clear is that he wanted to exert control over the band alumni organization-- trying to make them wear khaki slacks and matching polos for Homecoming and if anyone refused, they wouldn't be allowed to march pregame. (Dude, we're adults-- if I wanna wear my trumpet jersey from '87 I will and if you don't like it, you can bite me.) When the alumni association basically said, "Bite me," he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with them and wasn't going to go out of his way to make alumni feel welcome during Homecoming. Another tradition lost, because that was always one of the most enjoyable things about Homecoming, getting to hang out with the Old Chiefs.

Okay, I'll stop blathering now.

That really sucks, it's cool to see old jerseys and instruments. It's sad that things are changing slowly because someone wants more control and doesn't respect tradition.

It's sad that things are changing slowly because someone wants more control and doesn't respect tradition.

Exactly

Pinky and the Brain and the Subprime Mortgage mess

Jilli Alert!

Sexy Witch blogspot has images of glamorous witches broken down by decade.

I a particularly like this 40s glam witch.

This 20s witch is very charming though.

30s Witch in silk.

Success! We have a new dining room light. [link]

After a brief flirtation with a wonderfully fugly chandelier made with fake antlers, we both chose it, so, yay! Should look just right in our 1938-built-but-funkified house and it was nice and cheap!

I like!

You know, in more than twenty-five years of watching whacked-out FSU/UM games, this one qualifies as one of the more seriously whacked out ones.

Pretty chandelier, Scrappy!